Old dogs learn new skills

Four years after the Great Recession, jobs remain scarce and unemployment painfully high.

LAURA KLEPACKI

Four years after the Great Recession, jobs remain scarce and unemployment painfully high.

And older workers are finding it particularly hard to wedge their way back in once they've been laid off or find themselves on a job hunt for other reasons.

Karen Veres, director of career services at Northampton Community College, has observed that the 50-plus demographic has more challenges than any other.

"It is not impossible, but definitely a more difficult and oftentimes lengthier job search," Veres said. "For those 55 and older, it takes about a year, on average, to find work."

Strikes against older workers include assumptions about inflexibility, being overqualified, lack of tech skills and higher income demands.

On the positive side, an older worker brings maturity, leadership and industry knowledge that can't be replaced, Veres said.

CareerLink, a government-funded job hub in Tannersville, is getting 1,800 visits a month from area residents looking for training opportunities, use of its hotline phone to the unemployment office or to search job boards on its computers, said Administrator John Casella.

"Finding employment for those 50-plus is a big issue throughout the country," Casella said.

Opportunities for older workers are there, it just might take some redirection.

Experience Works, a national nonprofit, operates the Senior Community Service Employment Program, which places qualified people in temporary jobs, helping them garner experience, learn new skills and eliminate harmful resume gaps.

To qualify, you must be 55 or over and have a household income that meets certain guidelines.

The pay is minimum wage and placements can last up to 48 months, giving workers a life line as they search for full-time permanent positions.

"Our program is really a stepping stone to regain the training and competence and confidence they need to compete for today's jobs," said Steve Weeks, state manager for Experience Works in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Placements are generally in government agencies and nonprofits.

"It is a win-win," Weeks said. "Not only for the person, but for the agency, which is often long on work and short on funds — for they have people now coming in to help."

And the level of education and work experience of the seniors applying now "is just so much greater than it was 13 years ago. I've seen the need triple and then some," he said.

Older and better-educated workers were least likely to be laid off in past recessions and were the first to return to work when recessions ended.

The numbers of unemployed have continued to rise for both groups this time.

Older workers still on the job are staying longer to make up for the losses from the financial crisis.

Experience Works participant Marielle Mendez, 67, of Reeders, who has been placed at CareerLink as a receptionist and greeter, had a 30-plus-year career as an assistant manager at Novell Enterprises, working at its offices in New York City and Roselle, N.J.

The Montclair State University graduate, with a degree in business administration, was earning in excess of $75,000 a year.

But when an opportunity arose to sell her New Jersey home with its $8,000 tax bill and cross the Delaware, where homes are cheaper, taxes lower and air cleaner, she made the leap.

"I paid my home in cash and still had a little money left," recalled Mendez, a Monroe County resident for more than five years now.

"The mountains here are beautiful, the nice neighborhood safe, and I thought, 'Well, I have experience and education and I am bilingual, I can get a good job.' Yeah, right."

She did initially find work in Scranton, and then closer to home in Stroudsburg, but at much lower salaries. It was a diagnosis of cancer that forced her to step out of the workforce entirely.

With treatments complete and medical bills hovering, Mendez now needs to get back in. A position she had qualified for and was anticipating at a government agency has not materialized because, she said, "no one is retiring, nobody is quitting."

So the temporary post at CareerLink, Mendez said, "has been an opportunity to get back into the business world and update my skills."

Being employed again "is great," she said, smiling as she took a brief break from duties to talk about the job.

"It is like having a second chance at life and to know you can help yourself and others. I am so glad they stationed me here."

The federal government has placed new emphasis on job training and education at community colleges as one way to provided targeted help quickly.

Federal spending on community colleges runs about $9.9 billion per year.

In 2010, another $2 billion in federal funding was approved to help community colleges retrain workers displaced by the recession.

President Barack Obama proposed spending another $8 billion for the Community College to Career Fund. So tuition help is available for many.

Students enrolled in the Adult Continuing Education program at the Monroe Career & Technical Institute range in age from 18 to 78, with an average age of 48.

"More and more people are coming in for workforce skills," said Carol Sitroon, supervisor of Adult Continuing Education at MCTI.

To better serve this new crop of students, the school has enhanced its curriculum, including developing single classes into fuller programs "that align with today's requirements for employers."

MCTI programs most popular among older students are health careers, followed by auto technology and collision and HVAC programs.

In 2014, a new home health aide program is being added, and there are updated courses on medical billing.

MaryJean Gushlaw, 47, of Blakeslee, a recent MCTI graduate, had never dreamed she would be returning to school.

The long-time day care center owner closed her business when she became ill and her treatments conflicted with her work.

Now healthy, she didn't want to reopen due to the ongoing weakness of the economy.

So she turned to health care and now works at St. Luke's Hospital as a polysomnographer — a position in the field of sleep medicine.

Never heard of that?

Neither did Gushlaw until she searched and scrutinized health care job sites and saw there were multiple openings in the field.

"Originally, I was going for an ultrasound technician, but those jobs open up internally first. Then I saw 50 job openings for polysomnographers."

"You never know where life is going to take you. But I love what I do and love taking care of my patients," the mother of three and grandmother of two said.

She advises others to be open-minded and persistent.

Matthew Connell, dean of NCC's Monroe Campus, noted that older students are usually juggling jobs or family responsibilities that can cause them to be sidetracked.

"But the thing that really stands out is that they find a way to work through it and keep going."

NCC student Bill Cook, 52, of Stroudsburg, is a case in point.

The married father of three still has two school-age sons at home. One of his boys has autism. Cook works the overnight shift as a security guard at a private community and part time for Step by Step, a group that offers services to people with development disabilities.

During Cook's life, he has worked as a mason, house-mover and then entered law enforcement, holding posts in the Lehigh and Wyoming county forces, sometimes simultaneously.

But he recently shifted direction to health care with a goal of becoming a nurse practitioner.

Cook felt his age began to play against him in law enforcement, and thoughts of aiding the sick and injured first arose while visiting emergency rooms as part of his police duties.

"My interest in nursing started as a desire to help people, but I can also do this when I'm 90," Cook said. "Nobody can tell me (because of age) I can't come to work anymore."

To address the differences in its student body, in November NCC held "non-traditional student week" where older students took center stage at a reception and talked about their personal experiences.

NCC has also introduced a modified version of its orientation program for older students who just can't spare an entire day.

"We've put together a two-hour orientation that suits their schedules better," Connell said.

And to give struggling residents a hand up, since the recession, NCC has offered a free semester of classes to anyone who has been laid off.

"This gives them access to courses to improve their skills and knowledge," Connell said.

Without aggressive public and private investment in job retraining, experts warn of a permanent underclass of workers trapped in low-skill, low-wage jobs.

By law, employers are not permitted to ask an applicant's age. However, noted Frances Kneisc, executive director of human resources for Mount Airy Casino Resort, "I have noticed a number of applicants with lengthy work history applying for all positions, which would imply that they are older than recent graduates and/or older than those just entering the workforce."

Camelback, for one, said it has seen an increase in applicants over the last two seasons.

A driving reason is that the resort is evolving into a four-season operation, giving winter workers hopes of extending employment into the summer.

Older workers are showing willingness to take all types of positions.

"In a seasonal resort environment, one would assume positions would be filled by individuals under the age of 18 looking for part-time evening and weekend work, when Camelback is busiest," said Brian Czarnecki, vice president sales and marketing. "But it is quite the contrary, as the ratio of those under 18 is less than 15 percent of those employed."

At CareerLink, everybody who walks through its doors "has their own story," Casella said.

The agency has access to tuition assistance programs that help those get training.

With sessions on dressing for success, resume writing and interviewing skills and links to job openings, "the services here give them a starting point, a direction and it is up to them to follow through."

"There are jobs out there "» and there are ways to get them," Casella said. "We are here to give people hope and guidance."